Matcher.



w. s. SHERMAN.

MATCHER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22. I910.

M a 5 W a W. S. SHERMAN.

MATCHER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1910.

VITA/EJ651515; @4222 W. S. SHERMAN.

MATCHERx APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1910.

1,145,040,, Patented July 6, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W. S. SHERMAN.

MATCHER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1910.

Patented July 6, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

WILLIS S. SHERMAN, OF .MILWAUKEE, WISCQNSIN.

narcntnn.

Specification. of Letters Eatent.

Patented July 6, 1915.

Application filed June 22, 1910. Serial No. 568,247.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIS S. SHERMAN, residing in ltllilwaukee,'county of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Matchers, of which the following is a description, ref erence being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a matching machine for forming the tongues and similar materiah which is particularly de signed to prevent irregular work upon material which is bent and out of shape, though which is equally adapted for operating upon straight material.

In matchers in which the material is fed to the cutters under the guidance of one or more rollers, it is impossible to maintain a pressure on the work other than at the point of contact of said rollers, and consequently the cutters which at all times act upon the work through a distance depending upon the diameter of the cutter and the length of the chord formed by the edge of the work intercepting the perimeter of the cutter, it has been impossible to assure a proper fit of the work to the cutter throughout the length of the work. If the guide roller be placed with its axis in the same transverse plane with relation to the work as the axis of the cutter, the cuttermust necessarily begin its action before the work reaches the guide roller and when the guide roller is placed in position in which it will be met with by the work previous to or simultaneous with the beginning of the operation of the cutter on the work, then the rear end of the work clears the guide roller before the cutter has completed its operation thereon and the remainder of the travel of the work is without the guidance of said guide roller. The result has been that flooring strips and other matched material have frequently been imperfectly matched at their ends.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a guide roller which will have a continuous bearing on the work for a. distance at leastequal to'the distance of the active operation ofthe cutter and which will be coincident therewith so that the pressure of the guide roll for holding the work in place will be maintained throughout the cutting operation and thus insure perfect grooves of flooring or other matching at the ends of the work as well as at intermediate portions.

Another object of this invention is to accomplish the foregoing object by means of a presser guide roller having a rim or tire of rubber or other yielding material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a matcher with feed rolls for feeding the material past the cutters which are free to yield without interfering with their driving operation so as to accommodate work which is warped and crooked without disturbing the proper relation between the guide face of the work and the cutter so that the tongue and groove will remain the proper distance from the face of the work and follow the irregularities of the bend thereof and when the work is laid and forced into place, its face will be flush with the'faces of the other strips.

Another object of this invention is to provide feed rollers, which in the normal operation of the machine will have their axes slightly oblique with relation to a plane at right angles to the line of travel of the work for the purpose of giving them a tendency to crowd the work toward its guide, but which feed rollers will, upon being reversed, automatically assume a position with their axes in a line'of travel at right angles to the feed of the work so as to avoid a tendency to lift the work from its guide when backing it from the cutters.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and relative arrangement of certain parts and in combinations of parts hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings is shown an exemplifying structure embodying the invention but it is to be understood that the invention is capable of embodiment in different forms.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a matcher constructed in accordance with this invention, parts being emoved for clearness of illustration; Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof looking at the receiving end of the machine with parts sectioned; Fig. 3 is a view of a fragment of the machine showing the feed rollers in their upright position for backing the work from the cutters; Fig. a is an end elevation looking at the discharge end of the machine, parts being sectioned; and, Fig. 5 is a plan view of the machine with the cutters removed to show the work being done thereby.

In these drawings indicates a frame having a pair of arbors l1 and 12 adjustably mounted thereon in bearing brackets 13, the said arbors being provided with up- I per and lower cutters 14 and 15 respectively therewith and jackscrews 19 are provided for lifting them. The bracket frame 17 forms a plain guide support 20 for the strip of material 21 which rests thereon in its travel to the cutters,there being a guide lug 22 at the end of the guide 20 to facilitate the placing of the work thereon as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. The bracket frame 18 is correspondingly provided with a guide support 23 for the work which may also be plain, but is preferably grooved to fit the tongue of the work and has an adjustable plate 24 thereon which projects over the work to form a top guide therefor.

The work is fed to the cutters by means of pairs of feed rolls 25 and 26, the former operating thereon ahead of the cutters and the latter behind the cutters. The feed rolls are mounted on vertical spindles 27 and 28, the spindle 27 being journaled in a frame 28 which has sleeves 29 at its lower end slidably mounted in bearings 30 of a rocking frame 31 which inturn has sleeves 32 journaled inbearings 33 on the frame base 34. A drive shaft 35 is journaled through the sleeves 32 with a pinion 36 on its end meshing with a gear wheel 37 on a countershaft 38 which is journaled through the sleeves 29, there being a beveled pinion 39 on the countershaft 38 meshing with a beveledgear 40 on the lower end of the spindle 27. The driving motion thus given to the feed roller on spindle 27 is imparted to the other feed roller upon the spindle 28 by intermeshing gear teeth 41 formed on said feed rolls above the path of the work, there being also flanges 42 on the rolls to bear against each other and hold the rolls a suitable distance apart to prevent binding of the gear teeth 41 when no work is between them. The spindle 28 is journaled at its lower end in a bearing 43 which is pivotally mounted on a bracket 44 which connects with the frame 28 above and below and is free to travel through an opening 45 in the bracket frame. Near the upper end of spindle 28, just beneath its feed roll, is a bearing block 46 in which the spindle is journaled and which forms a guide for the spindle in its pivotal movement to bring the feed roll carried thereby nearer to or farther from the other feed roll, said bearing block 46 be- I bearing block 46 through the plate 48 and has a crank handle 50 threaded thereon so that the turning of the crank handle draws the bearing block with the feed roll carried thereby farther away from the other feed roll to release the work when desired. The drive shaft 35 of the rear or discharge feed rollers has a broad pulley 51 thereon, besides a driving connection not shown for some suitable source of power, and this pulley 51 is connected by a straight belt 52 and a crossed belt fixed pulleys 54 andc55 respectively on the other drive shaft 35, there being a belt.

shifter 56 slidably mounted through the frame for changing the position of the belts so as to reverse the direction'of movement of the feed rolls 25.

The frame 28' being, slidably mounted in the bearings 30 permits the feed rolls to movetogether bodily in a plane approximately at right angles to the travel of the work to followthe bends and twists of the work without interfering with their driving:

connections the gear wheel 37 maintaining its mesh with the pinion 36 during these movements, and in order that these frames may normally assume an intermediate position, they are provided with leaf springs 57 adjustably mounted thereon and connected with one of the bearings 30.

. Besides the guide supports 20 and 23 on which the work slides, there is a rear guide shoe 58 on the frame against which the face of the Work bears as it passes the cutters and a top guide 59 adjustably mounted on the frame to bear on the top ofthe work immediately after it leaves the cutters, as well as a spring pressure shoe 60 also adjustably mounted on the frame and bearing on the top of the work immediately preceding the cutters. Directly opposite the rear guide shoe 58 isa presser guide roll 61 carried by a spindle '62 in the same manner as the feed rolls are carried by the spindle 28, the lower end of the spindle 62 being journaled in a bearing, 63 which is pivotally mounted in 53 with loose and a frame 64, said frame being adjustably,

clamped by a bolt 65 to the bracket frame 18, being given a spring work by a coil spring 67 contained in a housing plate 68 and bearing against a bearing block through which the spindle 62 is journaled, all in the same manner as with the corresponding parts of the feed rolls. The presser guide roll 61 has a soft yielding tire or tread to engage the work and press it firmly against the rear guide shoe 58, such pressure being sufiicient to indent or flatten the rim of the presser guide roll to 3116K- tent that will cover the distance of the active cutting portion of the cutters on the work. The curvature of the curved plate 66 is concentric with the bearing surface of the presser guide roll rim and permits of the adjustment of the presser guide roll so that the movement of its tread will be in the plane of travel of the work or slightly oblique thereto as desired.

In order that the feed rolls 25 may have a tendency to force the work down toward.

the guide supports 20 and 23, they are preferably slightly inclined, but as their direction of movement has to be reversed by changing the belt shifter 56 when a split piece of work becomes jammed in the cutters, it is desirable at such times that their inclined position be changed so that their axes are vertical and thus avoid their backing the work from the cutters and lifting it at the same time which is liable to break the strip of work. \Vith this end in view the bracket 44 of the feed rolls 25 is provided with a pair of upstanding arms 69 which are connected by a link 70 with corresponding upstanding arms 71 on the bracket frame 17. The frame 28 is also allowed. a degree of play between set screws 72 on the bracket frame 17. With this con struction the reaction of the driving operation of the feed rolls 25 on the work, serves to cause the frame 28' to swing outwardly on its link connection 70 so as to stand in the position shown in Fig. 1, where the axes of the feed rolls 25 are inclined in a direction to cause their action on the work to tend to press it downwardly on the guide support 20. hen, however, the direction of movement of the feed rolls 25 is reversed, by means of the belt shifter 56, the reaction of the feed rolls 25 in their operation on the work is such as to cause the frame 28 to swing to the other set screw 72 where the aXes of the feed rolls are vertical, as shown in Fig. 3 and thus prevent the feed rolls having a tendency to lift the work as they draw it back from the cutters. This shifting in the position of the frame carrying the feed rolls is automatic and takes place whenever the direction of feed of the rolls is changed. The shifting movements of the frame 28, above described, are permitted without interfering with the driving connections for the feed rolls by reason of the pivotal connections of the frame 31 with the frame 28' and with the frame base 3st. The set screws 7 2 are provided for the frame 28 of the feed rolls 26, but here they are for adjustment of the angularity of said feed rolls only, since no provision is made for automatically shifting them.

In operation the material to be matched, is placed upon the guide 20, the lug 22 assisting this operation, and is then pushed forwardly between the feed rolls 25 which bear thereon under the pressure of spring 29 and drive the work along the guide 20 between the rear guide 58 and the presser guide roll 61 and beneath the guide 60. Vhile under the influence of the presser guide roll 61 the work is fed past the cutters 14 and 15 which cut the groove and tongue therein, the bearing of said presser roll being coextensive with the portion of the work being acted upon by the cutters. The portion of the work which is clamped between the presser roll and the guide 58 is the only portion thereof which is under restraint against lateral movement, the feed rolls 25 and 26 being yielding to the curvatures by the frames 28 sliding in their bearings 30 with only the light resistance of springs 57 to restore them to their normal intermediate position when the work has passed from between the feed rolls.

The movement of roll 61 is incident to its engagement with the moving work and its rubber tire engaging surface enables it to bear against the work for a considerable distance, as shown in Fig. 5, thus assuring the work being firmly held in its proper place on its approach to the cutters as well as throughout the cutting operation and its discharge from the cutters. This enables the cutting operation to be performed with accuracy at the ends of the strips of material and obviates the waste which is incident to work which is irregularly finished at the ends.

The automatic shifting feed rolls which change from their inclined position to a vertical position or an incline in the opposite direction, serve to firmly press the work on its guide support while being fed to the cutters, and avoid an upward feed of the work when. the direction of the feed rolls is reversed for backing work out of the machine, as is occasionally done when the work splits in the machine.

Vhile the movement of the feed rolls to follow curvatures in the work is horizontal, as the machine is here shown, and is referred to as lateral with relation to the path of the work, it is obvious that the principle involved is equally applicable to feed rolls having a vertical or other movement and the term lateral is therefore employed in the claims for convenience and not as av limitation.

I desire it to be understood that this in- &

vention is not limited to any specific form or arrangement of parts except in so far as such limitations are specified 1n the clalms.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A matching machine, comprising a cutter, guides for holding the work operated upon by the cutter, reversible feed rolls for feeding the work to the cutter having a normal inclined position to force the work toward a guide, and means for automatically shifting the position of the feed rolls when they are reversed.

2. A matching machine, comprising a cutter, guides for holding work in position to be operated upon by the cutter, pivotally mounted reversible feed rolls for feeding the work to the cutter and normally standing in a position at an angle to the direction of feed of the work to crowd the work against a guide, and means for swinging the feed rolls when they are reversed.

3. A matching machine, comprising a cutter, guides for holding the work in position to be operated upon by the cutter, a swinging frame, feed rolls carried thereby, driving means for imparting motion to the feed rolls in all positions of the swinging frame, said feed rolls being normally in an in-" clined position to force the work against a guide and hold such inclined position by reason of the reaction on the rolls of their driving engagement with the work, and a means for reversing the direction of movement of the feed rolls whereby the swinging frame is swung to move the feed rolls from their inclined position.

4. A matching machine, comprising a main frame, a cutter carried thereby, guides on the frame for holding work in position to be operated upon by the cutter, a swinging frame having pivotal connection with the main frame, feed rolls journaled in the swinging frame, a rocking frame on the main frame pivotally connected with the pivoted frame, and a driving connection for the feed rolls with its members concentric with the pivotal connections of the rocking frame whereby the reversal of the direction of movement of the driving connection will cause the swinging frame to change the position of the feed rolls.

5. A matching machine, comprising a mainframe, a cutter mounted thereon, an

' adjustable guide frame on the main frame forming a guide to support the work acted upon by the cutter, a rocklng frame pivotally mounted on the main frame, a pivoted frame pivotally mounted on the rocking frame, a link connecting the pivoted frame with one of the other frames, feed rolls carried by the pivoted frame and geared to gether for feeding the work to the cutter, a spindle on which one of the feed rolls is mounted, a beveled gear carried thereby, a

shaft passing through the pivotal connection between the pivoted frame and the between the rocking frame and the main frame, and a pinion thereon meshing with the gear wheel.

6. A matching machine, comprising a main frame, a-cutter mounted thereon, an adjustable guide frame on the main frame forming a guide to support the work acted upon by the cutter, a rocking frame pivotally mounted on the main frame, a pivoted frame pivotally mounted on the rocking frame, a link connecting the pivoted frame with one of the other frames, feed rolls carried by the pivoted frame and geared together for feeding the work to the cutter, a spindle for one of the feed rolls pivotally mounted on the pivoted frame, a bearing block through which it is mounted, cheeks on the pivoted frame between which the bearing block is free to move, a spring means for giving pressure to the bearing block for holding thesaid presser rolls with pressure against the work, and a spindle on which the other feed roll is mounted, a driving means extending through the pivotal connections of the rocking frame for driving the last mentioned spindle.

7. A matching machine, comprising a cutter, guides for holding the work in position to be operated upon by the cutter, a swinging frame, feed rolls carried thereby, driving means for imparting motion to the feed rolls in all positions of the swinging frame, said feed rolls being normally in an inclined position to force the work against a guide and holding such inclined position by reason of the reaction on the rolls of their driving engagement with the work, means for reversing the direction of rotation of the feed rolls whereby the frame is swung to move the feed rolls from their inclined position, and means for adjusting the inclined position and the other position of the swinging frame.

8. A matching machine, comprising a cutter, a guide for holding the work in position to beoperated upon by the cutter, and opposed feed rolls having a common mounting andbeing free for lateral movement to permit both rolls to follow a lateral curvature of the work.

9. A matching machine, comprising a cut 10. A matching machine, comprising a cutter, guides for holding the work in position to be operated upon by the cutter, opposed feed rolls for feeding the work to the cutter, a sliding frame on which the opposed feed rolls are mounted to change their positions together when bent or crooked work passes therebetween, and spring means for holding the sliding frame in a normal position.

11. A matching machine, comprising a main frame, a cutter mounted thereon, guides for holding the work in position to be operated upon by the cutter, a rocking frame pivotally mounted on the main frame, a pivoted frame pivotally and slidably mounted on the rocking frame, a link connection between the pivoted frame and the main frame whereby the pivoted frame is free to swing on its link connection and with the rocking frame, feed rolls carried by the pivoted frame, and a spring means between the rocking frame and the pivoted frame for holding it in a normal position.

12. a work cutting machine, comprising a cutter, a guide against which the work bears while passing the cutter, a spindle rotatably and pivotally mounted in the frame, a bearing block through which the spindle is journaled, cheeks on the frame between which the bearing block slides, an adjustable spring casing on the frame, a spring seated therein and bearing on the bearing block, an idle presser roll mounted on the spindle with its axis approximately in the plane which includes the axis of the cutter and which is transverse of the line of travel of the work past the cutter, and a rubber tire on the presser roll having its surface flattened against the work throughout that portion of the length of the work which receives the action of the cutter.

13. A work cutting machine, comprising a cutter, a guide against which the work bears while passing the cutter, a pivotally mounted frame, a spindle rotatably and Copies of this patent may be obtained for pivotally mounted in the frame, a bearing block through which the spindle is journaled, cheeks on the frame between which the bearing block slides, an adjustable spring casing on the frame, a spring seated therein and bearing on the bearing block, an idle presser roll mounted on the spindle with its axis approximately in the plane which includes the axis of the cutter and which is transverse of the line of travel of the work past the cutter, a rubber tire on the presser roll having its surface flattened against the work throughout that portion of the length of the work which receives the action of the cutter, the pivotal mounting of the frame permitting of the adjustment of the presser roll to a plane oblique to the direction of travel of the work, and a guide against which the work is pressed by the action of the presser roll under such inclination.

14. A work cutting machine, comprising a cutter, feed rolls ahead of the cutter for feeding work thereto, feed rolls behind the cutter for feeding the work away therefrom, and means for reversing the direction of rotation of the feed rolls ahead of the out ter without affecting the feed rolls behind the cutter.

15. A work cutting machine, comprising a cutter, feed rolls ahead of the cutter for feeding work thereto, feed rolls behind the cutter for feeding the work away therefrom, means for driving the feed rolls behind the cutter and means for driving the feed rolls ahead of the cutter from said driving means for the feed rolls behind the cutter, whereby slippage in the driving means for the feed rolls ahead of the cutter will not have the tendency to wedge the work in the machine.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIS S. SHERMAN.

Witnesses:

LAURA A. KELLEY, R. S. C. CALDWELL.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

